Grace's Inferno
by Cherries and Bearbees
Summary: "My, my, isn't this something unusual? A child who doesn't quiver in fear in front of Satan himself?" "The Lord won't save me, why would I call for Him if He didn't listen?"
1. Chapter 1

**Inferno's Graces**

Disclaimer: Kuroshitsuji is a wonderful manga that hasn't been drawn by me~

**Chapter 1: The Grace of having help to the way of Hell**

The young girl was shaking on her feet, staring at the dead body in front of her along with the man wearing black. No, man wasn't what it was. After all, it wore heels, had feminine fingers, a demoniac smirk and red glowing eyes, seemingly to devour her.

"Ah. A demon." she had muttered. "I got punished for stealing the apple after all...The sister lied to me."

The "thing" snickered and crouched down at the level of the child's face who kept on staring at him.

"My, my, isn't this something unusual? A child who doesn't quiver in fear in front of Satan himself?"

He patted her on the head with an amused look on his face. He was handsome, even handsomer then the boy she had a crush on from the next street. She wanted to reach for his long black flowing hair, touch it, brush it with her fingers, plait it into an elegant plait. And put a rose in it too, a red rose to match his beautiful eyes.

She wasn't scared to sin anymore. After all, she was going to hell, even if she had prayed properly all her life long.

"The Lord won't save me, why would I call for him anymore since he didn't listen?"

A chuckle.

"Oya, wouldn't our little missy be aware that the gods are useless in this world?"

He touched her cheek with his pale hand, stroking her dirty cheek. He looked into her deep blue eyes and curled a strand of her messy carrot colored hair.

"The sister lied to me, so He did too, since He spoke through her mouth as she said." was the simple answer she gave with her crystal clear voice.

"Poor thing." fake sighed the demon. "Say, Missy, would you be interested into making a contract with me? I never lie."

She blinked at the word contract, not grasping the full meaning behind it. He kept on stroking her hair, giving a nice warm feeling to the child, making her literally cling to him. She truly didn't know any better than accepting the fake concern of a demon.

"Become mine and I'll grant any wish of yours till you die." he whispered in her ear.

She stared in his red eyes, surprised, gripping at it's long black hair. Hope had come into her eyes, exactly what he had been aiming for.

"You'll give me food?"

"Of course, My Lady."

"I'll be able to wear beautiful dresses?"

"Yes, My Lady."

"Will you set me free?"

"Yes, My Lady."

"...Can you punish the sister who lied to me?"

A smirk drew on his lips, showing it's sharp teeth.

"Yes...My Lady."

She hadn't seen the sneer, neither the carnage, neither the blood dripping off the walls and victims around the feet of the demon. Neither had she understood in what she had thrown herself in, neither the two spectators who were at the top of the stairs, watching them.

"Cieeeeeeeeeeeel~!"

A small blonde figure threw herself at the equally tall black haired figure, with a lot of smiles, squeals and kisses on the cheek. Completely hyped to see the love of her life, aka the doomed Ciel Phantomhive, Elisabeth Middleford had totally forgotten all her manners and etiquette behavior, acting completely familiar with the noble boy. The Earl, slightly (extremely) annoyed by her attitude, shoved her aside, trying to greet her normally while taking his breath back from having been almost squeezed to death.

"E-Elisabeth. Why are you here?" he asked annoyed.

But the girl wasn't even listening and looking around in the main hall, seemingly to be searching for something. She found the "three idiots", Finny, Meylene and Bard behind a pillar, Tanaka behind another with his cup of tea, but didn't give them any attention. Sebastian was looking at her with his usual smile, while Ciel was already trembling with irritation.

"Listen at least when people talk to you!" he reprimanded her.

"Where's she?" was the answer he got.

"Eh?"

All faces except that of the little lady, had turned into a questioning one. Elisabeth pointed at Ciel in an angry manner.

"We're only kids and you already cheat on me!"

Ciel's jaw dropped in a pretty comical way and the whole Phantomhive house laughed at his face. It was so rare to see a genuine surprised face of their master and especially if it was made in such comical situation.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he shouted.

"Don't you dare to deny it, Ciel! It's uncute to do so, you know."

Sebastian chuckled at the hopeless and irritated face of his master and said:

"I think she's talking about the guest the Queen told you to take care of, along with her butler."

The Earl found his composure at those words and rubbed his temples.

"Ah, her."

"Who, who?" asked Elisabeth.

At the same time, two pairs of steps came down the large stairs of the house. Elisabeth's eyes widened and her hands came in front of her mouth in a gesture of admiration.


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, in all honesty, I didn't expect to get some people to review the first chapter I posted, neither did I expect to have other people put this story on their alert lists or favorites. I thank all of you who did. It made my day when I saw a few mails popping up with one or another review.**

**Please enjoy the next chapter of Grace's Inferno and if possible, leave a comment behind in which you tell me what you liked or not about this chapter.**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kuroshitsuji in any form or way. I'm merely using the characters and universe for my and other people's pleasure in fanfiction.

**Chapter 2: The grace of having hidden what hurts**

"Yay...A party."

Ciel's reaction was cold and uninterested as always, but since his Aunt, Miss Middlefort, wanted him to attend to it, he'd do it. His butler was distributing the guests and his Lord some tea and cake while Ciel was rereading the letter he had gotten from Elisabeth.  
Elisabeth for her part, was staring at the other person who was cloaked in brown and the girl was sitting in front of her and Ciel. She was pale, her eyes seemed to stare in the afar and her whole body seemed to be ready to break any minute. She was so similar to the Ciel who had reappeared after that the mansion had burned. He too looked like that, empty of any will and mental strength. But this girl didn't even seem being from any noble descendance, but more like a child that had been picked up from the street. But if that was the case, why was there a butler whom was exclusively hers, like Sebastian was Ciel's?

"U-Uhm, Ciel?"

"What is it?"

"Who is she? She's been staring at us for a while now." asked the blonde girl hesitatingly.

"Her name is Earl Grace Wortley. Her Majesty has asked me to take care of her and to help her to recover from the incident she just came out from."

"Incident?"

"My Lady lost her parents in a terrible accident." answered the unknown butler.

The noble girl observed the butler for a moment. He was pretty similar to Sebastian when it came to manners and a polite smile. But this man's face and eyes were different along with his gestures. Oh, it was perfect, but it was rougher and less graceful, as if he was in training. He wore also a different attire then Sebastian, wearing brown and deep red instead of grey and black. Probably because the dress code at the Wortley's were different from the Phantomhives. Instead of a necktie, the man wore a cravat which was pinned with a necktie pin on which the blason of the family he served for was stamped on. He had a monocle on his left eye that was held with a golden chain to something that was hidden by his thick strands of black hair that was combed back with a parting on the right side, letting two long bangs fall over his eyes. He wore gloves just like Sebastian, but in a grey color instead of white. And last of all, he had his jacket open, revealing his waistcoat.  
In fact, the only ressemblance between those two were their manners and black hair. Nothing else really related them. Sebastian's eyes were brown, that of the other man green. Sebastian's smile was a business smile, while that of the other seemed more natural but also more cruel. Their eyebrows were highly arched, but that of the other frowned more easily, showing at least some emotion.

The new one might have been nicer to look at, Elisabeth still preferred Sebastian. Maybe because she knew him better and was Ciel's butler.

"I beg you pardon Lady Elisabeth, but, do I have something on my face?"

The blonde girl, startled, realized that she had been staring at him. Ciel chuckled softly and something that seemed like a giggle came from across them. Elisabeth looked down, red of embarrassment and kept silent, not exactly knowing what to answer.  
Ciel looked over at the other girl, who had indeed giggled. Lizzy noticed that his eyes weren't as cold as they usually were when he looked at her. Maybe he pitied her or at least could relate himself to her, since they were both in the same familial situation? But Grace had looked down again, hiding her face. Despite the butler besides her, she seemed lonely and very sad. Elisabeth wasn't sure about Ciel's feelings, but she felt sympathy for Grace.

With a slight jump, she stood up and went over to the girl, grabbing her arm.

"My name's Elisabeth." she said cheerfully. "Do you like cute things?"

Sharp blue eyes looked up to her warm green ones, with a glint of surprise in them. She seemed not to understand the other girl's words, since she didn't answer and only looked with a questioning look at her butler. The man nodded with a smile and Grace finally answered with a small voice that she did like cute things.

"Then it's settled! You'll come shopping with me! And we'll buy new clothes for Ciel too, so that he looks even cuter!"

The concerned one, who was drinking some tea, spurted it out almost in horror from the words of his fiancée and tried to stop them, but was proven too late at the sound of the front doors slamming open and a carriage strolling away.

A heavy sigh escaped from his lips and irritation was written all over his face.

"Would you like to have some more tea, My Lord?" asked Sebastian casually.

* * *

Elisabeth was totally loving strolling down the streets with her new friend, her maid and Grace's butler. One, they could buy more since the man could carry it for them and two, she could ask an honest opinion from someone else then Paula.

Grace, for her part, walked very closely to the butler and gripped tight her coat. Seeing that she was feeling uncomfortable, Elisabeth gripped her hands and said with a serious look on her face:

"We're going to buy some things for you, ne? Your butler told me that you had lost almost all of your belongings. So, lets go buy the necessary for you."

The girl nodded, not quite sure what else to do and followed the blonde kid. The butler and the maid smiled and awaited for the orders of the small Lady.

The first place they got to visit, was a toy store.

"We're going to buy a beautiful doll for you!" announced Elisabeth cheerfully while dragging her over to the right shelves. "So, choose the one you like the most."

Grace stared at the glass eyes of the white skinned porcelain dolls which were wearing dresses exactly like those of real humans. They looked like real ladies or children, but that didn't move and from which all live had been drained and their eternal smiles would keep on showing to their future owners.

A tear slipped from the girl's eye, rolling down her cheek.

Elisabeth, immediately realizing her mistake, took the girl over to the Phantom Industries bunnies and teddy bears, pressing her to choose between one of those, while the butler made sure that Grace wouldn't have to look again at the dolls.

After all, those dolls were almost perfect copies of the dead children's faces she had seen before he had appeared in front of her...


	3. Chapter 3

**I hope all of you enjoyed the previous chapter. Thank you for the reviews, the favorites and alerts, once again. It made my day when I saw more and more people being interested in this story.**

**Someone asked me if this was going to be a CielxOC story. It won't. I think that Lizzie and Ciel are well paired together and I'm not planning to make this a romance story. I'll be just trying to make of this a nice crime/mystery story.**

**Enjoy chapter 3~**

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji in any form or way. Even though I wish I did. But then I'd also need the super imagination of the mangaka and it's drawing skills and...whatever. I don't own it.

**Chapter 3: The Grace of not hearing any lies**

John Malacoda was the human name he had adopted for this mistress. John, because it was the name she had muttered to him and Malacoda because he had appreciated the book "Dante's Inferno". But only as amusement about how creative but also how cliché and boring humans could be when describing the things they fear the most.

His first intentions weren't to save nor to serve the child he had found after having killed the "summoners", but he just couldn't get enough of the smell of her soul. It was sweet, warm, attractive, sensual in its own way.

No, don't be mistaken, John wasn't interested in children. He'd let the soul mature and experience till it was ripe to perfection. He'd make Grace Wortley grow into a beautiful woman and only take her soul when she was at the peak of her life.

He shivered of pleasure from the thought. It'd be the perfect dinner for him.

Grace Wortley was a small child, of the same age as the Earl Phantomhive. She had carrot colored hair that flowed on her shoulders gracefully and a pair of sharp royal blue eyes even though they were filled with sadness lately. She was a sickly child, suffering of asthma, an illness many children had in London. John hadn't fully grasped her character yet, but already knew that she wasn't the kind to back off or to regret things. And that was something that made her so unique.

He had given her what she had asked him to give her. Not directly of course, but had "pushed" things to go in the direction he wanted them to take. Grace wasn't from nobility and never had anyone to serve her either. Wearing warm clothes, having at least three meals a day, having a roof above her head, were all new to her. Etiquette was something unknown to her, as well as proper language. Luckily for herself, she wasn't much of a talker and the excuse of having gotten bad influence while her kidnapping worked fairly well, since it wasn't a lie either; the people who sacrificed those children were after all bad company in all possible meanings of the term.

Grace Wortley had actually existed and died under mysterious circumstances a year earlier, along with her parents. No witnesses, no rumors and a heirloom that had to be claimed yet. Since the Scotland Yard hadn't found the child's body yet, the Queen had made sure that the heirloom couldn't fall in someone's hands yet, probably waiting to find a good replacement for the name, name that was needed too much in the negotiations in the colonies of England. It wouldn't have been the first noble family that had been eliminated for Her Majesty's wishes. The fact that the orphan was called Grace, had a vague ressemblance with the deceased child and had no memories left from before were a lucky coincidence that helped him to reach the goal he had for his Mistress.

The child had accepted everything without complaints or questions. He gave her what she had asked him to give, so simple were things for her. He didn't lie, he gave her what she needed, he protected her, there wasn't anything else she wanted up till recently.

Grace had been made an "underdog of the Queen", like Ciel Phantomhive. It was only natural for the Countess of the Wortley, since they had been in the underground affairs too, hiding behind a neat facade of ambassadors of equal commerce in China. She wasn't really aware yet of the meaning of the role, reason why the Queen made her live for a while in the Phantomhive manor, wanting Ciel to "introduce" her in her new world.

John Malacoda was supposed to be the butler of the family, that had been hired for her alone and teach her all manners and etiquette and rules she needed to know. The task was heavy, long, difficult, but, if he couldn't handle such a task, then he wouldn't be the butler of the Wortley's, would he?

The child was a fast learner, her brain absorbing knowledge like a sponge. Also, she was interested in most particular domains, especially those of medicine and juridiction. She had to learn everything related to business and commerce too, since she inherited the company of her "parents". The child learned french, german, proper english, latin, greek, learned to play chess, cards, the piano,and the violin. Etiquette, manners, clothing, expression, standing, dancing, sewing, embroidery and what not else a lady of good society was supposed to be able to do.

The human brain fascinated the demon. Ah, it wasn't as perfect, creative and productive as theirs, but, it was still fascinating. It could remember to the slightest details, forget the most important of the picture. It was able to make a person feel, ignore, imagine. It had this ability to assemble pieces of a puzzle to create the being, the soul of the person. Ah, it even came up with ideas to go to the Moon. Why in Hell's name would people want to go to a dead rock? He had already seen it and really, it was more boring than Earth was.

'Aaaah...Well, I'm not going to try to understand humans tastes and interests.' thought the demon after having reflected on his thoughts.

"SEBASTIAN!"

Ara, ara, the little master of the house was sure noisy. With a grin, John was wondering how his fellow demon could cope up with such a master. Grace earned well her name; she was full of grace in manners and in spirit. He totally adored his little mistress without forgetting his place as butler and of course as demon.

Every day, John Malacoda was at her service, ready to execute everything she asked him to do. But she wasn't very demanding, giving him a lot of free time, which he used to help Sebastian when he felt like, play around with the local cats or to read and learn about human manners and needs.

He especially enjoyed the times with the cats and when he brought to bed his Mistress. It was so ironic what she asked every time, to ask such a question to a demon:

"Please, don't ever lie to me."

Ah, why should a demon hide the hell he's preparing for it's victim?

His answer would never waver or change. It'd always be "Yes, My Lady."

"Ciel?"

"Hm?"

The young master seemed annoyed while he was reading some news papers while drinking his cup of red tea. Grace was standing shyly next to his desk, alone for the first time in front of him. Usually she only talked to John and didn't dare to leave his side. But her butler had pushed her gently to the office and told her to play a game of chess alone with Ciel. Sebastian had encouraged the action and showed her the way to the room.

And there she was, trembling on her base and holding tight the chess game. She was wearing a navy blue dress, a color Ciel liked. Her carrot hair was plaited around her head, like a crown and she wore the pearl earrings Elisabeth had given her the famous day they had gone out shopping. Meylyn, Finny and Bard had all three said that she looked cute and John and Sebastian had smiled like always, giving her the last little bit of courage she needed to enter the room.

He hadn't heard her coming in, sadly, forcing her to make the first move.

"Uhm...C-Ciel?"

"What is it?" he asked absentmindedly with a frown.

She swallowed hard, feeling a heavy atmosphere coming from him.

"W-Well, i-if you're not t-too-"

"Stop stammering, I can barely understand you." was the harsh reply she got.

Immediately, she cleared her throat and started again:

"If you're not too busy, would you...like...to...play...chess...with me?" she said with a tone that turned into an almost non understandable whisper.

Ciel looked up from his paper, at the girl and sighed. He posed the newspaper down along with the cup of tea and jumped off his chair.

"It can't be helped, can it? Let's go outside, while the sun is still shining. Sebastian will make us some sweets."

John was glad to see his little Mistress coming out of the room with a smile on her lips. After all, it was true that sad souls didn't taste much in the mouth.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello once again.**

**I wanted to thanks ****i'mthenewCAKEPIG ****for reviewing the last chapter~!**

**Please enjoy the next chapter, dear readers and reviewers. And please drop a review by if you got some free time on the hand.**

**Chapter 4:The Grace of being informed about the torture**

Opium. A poison that gives people the chance to forget the hard times of life, to escape from their present nightmares. And England had almost the whole monopoly on the Asian product for several years now.

"_By the 1880s, China was in the midst of a major opium boom, particularly in the rugged southwestern provinces of Szechwan and Yunnan. Observers claimed that China's leading opium producing province, Szechwan, was harvesting 10,000 tons of raw opium annually. In 1881, the British consul at Yichang estimated the total opium production in the southwest at 13,525 tons, a figure that at first seemed exaggerated._

_Although estimates varied widely, by 1885 China was probably growing twice as much opium as it was importing._

_The East India Company was responsible for this export, but they were so involved with the British government by the time of the Opium Wars, that it doesn't make sense to talk about the opium traders as anything but "England". _

_Business was booming. The market was growing almost every year due to a number of causes. First, the population of China was increasing rapidly at this time-roughly doubling from 1750 to 1850. Second, the number of per capita users was increasing. Third, per user consumption was increasing. _

_The Chinese government had made opium illegal in 1796. For the 40 years following the enactment of the law, the government did nothing much to enforce it. When the government did finally try to enforce the opium ban, it led to the two Opium Wars, although in fact they are pretty much just one war with a long cease-fire in the middle._

_In the latest news, dating from 1887, Sir Lau, president of the head of the British branch of a trading company, Kunlun, would have been involved with Shangai's mafia and take a big part in the Opium Affairs. Also..."_

Grace stopped reading, tired and bored. She had read countless of articles about opium trades since a week, only to prepare herself for some "mission" the Queen had given her. With a silent sigh, she posed her head on the table, her hands under her legs which were dandling under her chair.

It had been a month since she had become "Grace Wortley" and she started to get used to her new life. She had no remembrance of what happened before she met John, but, she knew this was a whole new experience in life for her and she was ready to put everything in play to keep her actual position. Had she ever been so greedy? And such a liar? She wasn't sure if it was the case or if she had gotten bad influence. But from who? John promised he never lied, Sebastian was the same. Ciel wasn't a person to lower himself to lie and hearing lies from Lizzy's mouth was unthinkable. So, she came to the conclusion that she was indeed a greedy liar.

But, she didn't feel guilty about it, because the Queen, Ciel and John, who were her three moral meters, approved of the actual situation. So, apparently, the fact she was greedy and a liar, wasn't something she'd be going to be punished for.

Suddenly, a yellow skinned hand grabbed the papers that were in front of her eyes and a happy voice said:

"Oya, oya~ Would she be the new little Queen's dog?"

Grace jumped up from her chair and stared at the individuals who were standing in front of her. It was a Chinese man with a Chinese woman clinging to him. Well...clinging didn't exactly describe how the woman was attached to the man, it was more like a sensual hug she shared with him, while he was reading the papers, hiding his face from her.

Grace, who had learned some tricks from Ciel's behavior, glared at the man and tried to grab the papers back from him, her sharp blue eyes flashing in irritation.

"Give it back! I need to study this!"

The man lowered the papers for her to reach them, with a smile plastered on his lips. A shiver went down Grace's back; his smile looked even creepier than that of Sebastian. And that woman who showed her legs was really scary when she was staring at her with her big yellow eyes.

The man's eyes were closed, not showing their color to Grace. His lips, thin and elegant, kept on smiling, while his long fingers caressed the woman's cheek. He wore Chinese clothes and reminded Grace of someone she had seen recently on a picture.

Then it struck her. He smelled weird. Opium. In shock, she pointed at him and stammered:

"L-Lau!"

The named "Lau" smiled even more and ruffled the Chinese girl's hair.

"My, my, aren't I well known by the Queen's dogs."

"Idiot, your face has been plastered in all newspapers for weeks now." replied gruffly Ciel who came in with Sebastian and John who were bringing some refreshments and sweets.

Grace immediately went over to her butler and grabbed him hand, suddenly timid again in front of the newcomer.

Ciel and Lau seemed to be old acquaintances and chatted like nothing strange was going on. Sebastian added a few words too from time to time, while serving them. The other demon looked down at his soul.

"What is it, Little Mistress?"

The hands let him go in shock and the girl looked away, red of shame.

"N-Nothing."

She felt a hand pat her head and hear the reassuring voice of John tell her it was alright. Then, he took the papers out of her hands and closed the file she was reading.

"She read enough stupidities." announced Ciel. "Let's go to real business now."

All people except for the butlers were sitting on comfortable sofas, enjoying some tea and cake. Grace looked up surprised at the young Lord with her mouth open like that of a koi fish, which made Lau grin.

"You don't actually believe that one of those empty headed journalists said one word of truth in those articles?"

She did believe that, yes. She had no idea how many lies could lie in such a paper. In fact, she took almost everything that was told her, for granted.

'Way to go to be a gullible lady in a dark society. What the hell was the Queen thinking?' thought Ciel irritated.

"Lau has nothing to do with half of everything that's told in this fish wrapper." said Sebastian with his usual smile. "Also, the Queen finally send you a precise instruction about the next investigation."

"Investigation?" asked Grace.

Lau, if his eyes were open, would have blinked. The noble girl didn't seem to understand at all what was going on. Was she stupid or actually hiding her game?

"Ah, there has been quite a lot of disturbances in the opium affairs." explained Sebastian.

"Stocks has been disappearing lately." added John.

"And strange murders have been taking place too."

"The murderer or murderers leave each time a signature behind."

"A small pocket of opium." finished Lau. "Along with a letter written in chinese with those words on it."

He gave Grace and Ciel a paper with the message in Chinese and English traduction. The noble girl made a mental note to learn Chinese as soon as possible.

"_Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn't know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi."_ read John out loud. "Isn't that an indirect reference to this man's addiction to opium?"

"Yup." answered Lau cheerfully. "Normally, this is one of the stories that influences our way of thinking in our culture, but this time, it refers to the opium. After all, when people consume opium, they aren't sure who they are anymore, neither where they are or what they are."

"So, it's some sort of insult not only towards England, but also to your own country, am I right?" asked John.

"Indeed. My country has been pressing the Queen to solve this case as soon as possible and thus why you were called here~"

"It's my mansion, Lau." reminded Ciel annoyed.

"Ah, yes." he answered absentmindedly.

Grace was sure that he was just teasing Ciel around, which seemed to work pretty well, since a vein had popped on his forehead.

"Are there any suspects or clues? Or even motives?" asked Grace randomly. "From what I read in the papers, there are many people who's like to gain this huge income of money. Not to mention all the small thieves and criminals who live in the shadows of the streets. East End is a perfect example of a place full of criminality. Kids, urchins, females, men, ol' branch's, die there all'time and opium deal'n is something ya can do a' any corner of an'y street. Ya see dead corpses every morn'n and night in th' streets when ya go work. I mean, Jack th' Rippe' is a goo' example of what happen' in th' streets there. Also, the stench's so strong, that ya can bar'ly distinguish the smell of a rottin' body of th'rest. 'bout opium, I think there's a dent near Brick Lane."

The room went silent. Jack the Ripper was a taboo subject around Ciel, but that wasn't exactly what had shocked the audience. Her language had turned into some slang of the poorer social class of London and her vocabulary had lost all it's elegance_. _Probably some of her origins came back to her memories, influencing her way of speaking. John suspected it'd only happen when she was nervous and had to talk more than two whole sentences.

Sebastian was the one breaking the silence.

"She gave us some nice directions for a first investigation."

Grace blushed slightly and hid her face behind her cup of tea, sipping some of the warm drink. John smiled warmly at her and patted her head. If the girl could purr, she certainly would have.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ohai, oh patient readers of this slowly updated story~ I wanted to thank all of you for the reviews, alerts and favorites. And apologize for the late update. I had some issues and family troubles to deal with~ But oh well. Up with the story.**

**Also, I would like to ask if anyone would be ready to beta this fiction. Someone who is rather good with grammar, because mine isn't that good as you probably noticed ^^;**

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji in any fashion or way. Though, I do enjoy daydreaming about me owning it...

**Chapter 5:The Grace of being informed about the details of the torture**

1889, January, London is thrown in fear again by another serial killer, named "The Sniffer". Opium could be used in many ways, but some clients loved to sniff it, like you'd sniff tabac. The name had been given to the killer because of the small bags of opium that had been found on the chests of the victims.

The killer's methods were simple yet cruel some. He'd drug his victims first, then slice their throats, but not enough to kill them directly. He'd also cut off the fingers and tongue to finally pierce his heart with a long kitchen knife. In the end, the whole killing would take around thirty minutes and the victim would suffer for at least half of the time.

John still couldn't understand Grace's interest in dead bodies and about how they were cut. It was creepy, coming from such a small piece of human. What was even stranger, was how well she got along with the Undertaker, an informant of the Earl Phantomhive.

The Undertaker was quite a strange man, without age, without visible eyes, without any apparent sanity. He sold his information for a "fresh laugh" aka, a good joke and refused any money that came form the Queen, harboring clearly a great dislike for her. Since Grace was incapable of coming up with a twisted enough joke, John took care of the mission, making sure that she couldn't see him doing so. His Little Mistress wouldn't have survived it with her grave asthma. It reminded him that once they were done with this mission, he would look for a house at the country side for her; a sickly soul was nothing good to eat after all and what wouldn't be any better for an asthmatic child than being able to leave the smoky regions of London?

"Don't peak, Little Mistress. It'll be done in a moment." he warned her after having shoved her out of the Undertaker's shop and preparing to close the door behind him.

The little red head simply nodded, trusting her brown haired butler from the deepest parts of her soul and waited obediently at the door. When Ciel and Sebastian arrived, they gave a surprised look at the small blue wearing figure that was waiting outside and the tall brown one enter the house again, from which screaming, laughing and screeches came from. Ciel stopped right beside Grace, glancing up to her.

"What's going on?"

"John's helping me out with making the Undertaker laugh." she answered smiling.

Ciel nodded and waited patiently next to her, with his butler right behind them.

John opened the door and gestured to his Lady to come in. But when Ciel tried to step in, he closed the door in front of his nose.

"If you need information from the Undertaker, get it by your own ways." he told the small Earl with a smirk.

Grace stiffened a laugh while walking towards a coffin on which she planned to take a seat, imagining her friend on the point of exploding behind the door and Sebastian grin. When Ciel started to bang on the door, the girl made a sign to John to let her friend come in along with his right hand, while she came look over to their host, who was bending over one of his dark colored coffins, trying to catch his breath back and tears still running down his cheeks, wetting his bangs.

"I hope John didn't give you a heart attack."

"Huhu~ N-No, he gave me to heart's content~" was the answer she got from the black wearing man.

"Good." she stated with a warm smile.

Ciel glared at John several times, while plopping down on a coffin without asking permission and went directly to business.

"So, tell us what you promised to tell Grace."

"Ah, yes, yes, sit down, sit down. Anyone wants some tea?"

Undertaker seemed suddenly very busy to find his bone shaped cookies and some tea which he had made at some point which no one knew of, and served it in some random recipients. Ciel, Sebastian and John refused politely, not feeling like drinking from something in which organs could have been placed to be preserved for who knew how long. Grace just took her drink and glared at the three men, with a look that clearly said "He cleans his medical material, so stop being so childish". John complied to his Mistress silent orders and finally agreed to have some tea after all, while Ciel ignored her look.

Once their host was comfortably installed on a coffin too, the discussion finally began.

"What do you know about the Sniffer?"

"Nothing much~"

"You mean that we're losing our time here?" replied the boy irritatedly.

"I didn't say that either~ Stop being so impulsive, Earl. It's bad for your health~"

"Yes, Ciel. Patience is a virtue, you told me that yourself." Grace slipped into the conversation.

A glare concluded the subject of the little Master's health and lack of patience and the gray haired man went to the real subject.

"He's not working alone~"

Grace blinked and Ciel scowled.

"What do you mean? The murderer could have inflicted the wounds on his own."

"Indeed~ It could have been a single person, if there weren't those hand traces on the ankles of the victims or on the wrists~"

Sebastian and John glanced at each other and the red eyed man spoke up.

"Indeed, it's impossible for a man to hold the ankles or wrists of a person while cutting him into several pieces."

"Hmhm~ And those men are all missing some parts~"

"We know that." snapped Ciel. "That was stated in the Queen's rapport. But we don't kn-"

"Do you mean that the fingers and tongue haven't been found back?"

"Ooooh~ She's pretty smart."

"What the hell would people do with tongues and fingers?" asked Ciel.

"The Scotland Yard is using a new identification system, with finger prints. It is merely starting to be used and most likely to be refused. The tongue seems to be a simple mutilation affair, but without the fingers, the police can't identify the victims, who were all suspected to be implicated criminals working with the chinese mafia." stated John.

"Cutting the fingers off was just a ritual to make sure the victims wouldn't be recognized? But why not also mutilate their faces?"

"All those men were notable people in society. They wanted to be sure they'd be recognized to give a warning to their future victims, but also make sure they wouldn't ever be officially implicated in the criminal actions, which would probably give them troubles." answered Sebastian.

"You made a small mistake, there, butler~"

"Oh?"

The Undertaker had their full attention.

"Women have also been murdered."

"Women?"

"Chinese women to be precise. And~...I'll let you guess the rest~"

"Lau." stated the boy. "We're off. Thanks for the help, Undertaker."

"You're welcome~"

And Ciel left along with Sebastian, who made sure to close the door properly behind his little master. The stuffy and rather dark workplace of the Undertaker fell silent for a moment, letting the little red head things for a while after blinking at the sudden leave of her friend. John for his part waited with a smile till she decided to leave too.

"No potential suspects?" was the only question Grace asked then.

"My clients never talk to me, Missy~ But you could try to talk to Grell Sutcliff or William T. Spears~ Now, shoo shoo, I need to prepare a client of mine today."

And the next second, Grace and John were outside. Grace blinked, having grown silent again and holding her butler's arm again.

"That was...interesting." stated John.

"Hmhm." nodded Grace.

"Well then, Mistress, shall we leave this place for a warmer one?"

He picked the girl up and helped her in the carriage that had been waiting for them. Ciel was gone since long ago, leaving the two alone. John sat down in next to his mistress to keep her warm and made a sign to the cab man to make the carriage move on to Ciel's house in London.

After having explained about the potential eye witnesses, Grace was surprised by how white Ciel and Sebastian turned when she mentioned the names of Grell Sutcliff and William T. Spears.

"What the hell...? Why should we ask those two morons for information?" finally exclaimed the little Earl, disbelief and disgust all written over his face.

Sebastian gave John a very clear look that said that he was never going to accept to see the two men that the Undertaker had told them about. John tried to ask him why but got interrupted before he could by Ciel who continued to storm and rage from behind his desk.

"Grace!"

"Yes, Ciel?"

"I forbid you to meet those two...creeps."

"Then John could meet them?" asked the girl.

"He'll go with Sebastian."

The black butler felt like strangulating his young mater at that precise moment.


End file.
